Why Volunteer?
With busy lives, it can be hard to find time to volunteer. However, the benefits of volunteering are enormous to you, your family, and your community.
The right match can help you to reduce stress, find friends, reach out to the community, learn new skills, and even advance your career. Giving to others can also help protect your mental and physical health.
Volunteering offers vital help to people in need, worthwhile causes, and the community, but the benefits can be even greater for you, the volunteer.
Volunteering and helping others can help you reduce stress, combat depression, keep you mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose.
While it’s true that the more you volunteer, the more benefits you’ll experience, volunteering doesn’t have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy day. Giving in even simple ways can help others those in need and improve your health and happiness.
Paul
The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter - to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. 
Stan
Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation's compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.
Jane
If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.
John Smith
Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.
What makes us happy?
People who engage in altruistic activities (e.g. volunteering), report a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. Volunteering is an opportunity to learn new skills, and can boost employment prospects.
The NHS lists a number of health benefits relating to volunteering, including improved quality of life, improved ability to cope with ill health and improved self-esteem. Volunteering can help to heal mental ill-health and addiction.
Action for Happiness list ten key ingredients for a happy and fulfilling life: giving, relating, exercising, awareness, trying out, direction, resilience, emotions, acceptance and meaning. We feel confident that volunteering ticks these boxes!
Bolton Green Umbrella Newsletter
We send a weekly e-mail newsletter with information about groups, events and volunteering opportunities.
We'd love to add your name to our subscribers.
How can we help?
Bolton Green Umbrella is passionate about the environment. Our aim is to find, support and nurture others who share this passion.
If you would like some general information about volunteering, please contact us using our contact page. If you are looking for a local group to join then please see our local groups page, or use our group finder tool below. If you are a local group who would like to be involved with what we are doing, please add your group to this site by visiting the local group sign up page.
We can also offer advice and guidance to groups regarding identifying and applying for funding.
Whatever your interest in volunteering please do not hesitate in contacting us.
Find a group
You can use this tool to find a group to suit your interests and location.